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See The Black Madonna

Czestochowa - The Black Madonna

Black Madonna of Czestochowa according to legend was painted by St.Luke the Evangelist. The Virgin Mary is shown as One Who Shows the Way. The painting is said to travel from Jerusalem to Bright Mountain (Czestochowa) and to have been here since 1382. The Picture is credited with saving the monastery from Swedish invasion in 17th century as the legend says that it has been moved from here to Lwów and this changed the course of the war. There are two more legends concerning The Painting, the first one is that the presence of the holy painting saved the church from a fire. As a Hussite wanted to destroy the painting he cut by using his sword two scars on the Right Cheek of Black Madonna's and before he succeeded to cut the third one he felt down and died and then the rest of occupants escaped. The latter legend says that after the second cut the face of Mary started to bleed and in a panic everybody escaped. Nowadays pilgrims from all over the world come to Czestochowa. Poor Polish people walk hundreds of kilometers just to see the painting.